Coity Castle Conservation Project

CADW – Coity Castle Conservation Project
Provision of scaffolding and access solutions for major £1.8m CADW conservation project to help protect and preserve the 12th century historic castle.

Appointed contractors John Weaver are completing the £1.8m major conservation project on behalf of CADW, who help to protect historic buildings, structures, landscapes and heritage sites throughout Wales. The major project incorporates various aspects of conservation work, including structural pinning, repointing and the minor rebuilding of sections of masonry, consolidating wall tops, and inserting missing lintels.

To help protect the historic site, all conservation project work is meticulously planned, this involves detailed design discussions between the Enigma internal design team, primary contractors John Weaver, Davies Sutton Architects and Mann Williams Civil & Structural Engineers. Before CAD drawings and 3D photogrammetry of the monument are utilised to create preliminary plans for the proposed external scaffold, to check the sloping ground within the moat can safely support the load without exceeding or damaging the critical structural integrity. The delivered solution requires minimal foundation excavations to reduce the risk of compromising any below-ground archaeology.

Throughout the project, Enigma liaised with the client to provide beneficial access solutions that help the project team to work in a safe and controlled manner without disturbing groundwork covering ancient ruins. By planning deliveries to site and implementing transport plans, materials delivery phasing and safe walkways to limit any possible ground damage.

The in-house design & engineering team provided a bespoke scaffold solution using buttresses and bridging scaffold beams across the moat. Also, to prevent the monument stonework from becoming damaged, a screw tie system with internal hooks was fixed into mortar joints. Finally, plan girders were installed to further limit the number of physical ties into the historic structure. This innovative solution helps to reduce overall project costs with the provision of access.